The Condition
By Jennifer Haigh
400 pages. Harper.

What makes a family come together or fall apart? In The Condition (Harper), Jennifer Haigh, a novelist with the delicate perceptions of a young Alice McDermott, takes us to a summer house on Cape Cod where quiet resentments encroach and batter like a relentless tide. Her warm portrayals reveal the fears and longings of five family members who, after more than 20 years of self-imposed exile, tentatively make their way home.